NICE Delivers Real-Time Voice Biometrics to the Call Center

Already in use at global financial institutions, NICE Systems has released a voice biometrics solution to call centers. NICE Real-Time Authentication provides caller verification that can boost agent metrics by cutting down on handle time, lowering fraud, and improving customer experience overall.

The first step of any authentication process is enrollment. With this solution, NICE leverages previous recordings through its Seamless Passive Enrollment technology to automatically and "securely enroll customers and create voice prints with no customer effort," said Jade Kahn, solution marketing manager for Fraud and Real Time Authentication Solutions at NICE Systems, in an email.

The next time the customer calls, the incoming call is streamed in real time and compared to the voice print stored on file. The voice authentication system assesses whether there is a match between the incoming audio and the stored voice print. In typically less than 15 seconds, according to Kahn, the agent is given guidance as to whether the person calling is the customer (green light) or not (red light). In the case of the red light, an additional authentication layer is invoked. As for callers who are not enrolled, the solution will tag the call once it has passed traditional security methods as eligible for enrollment. After the call, the recording will be subjected to four layers of security before a voice print is automatically created and added to the voice print database, Kahn says.

The NICE Real-Time Authentication solution also includes Dynamic Security Questions, which offers an additional layer of security. These questions employ NICE's desktop capabilities and can be drawn from customer details, transaction history, or any other application or database available to the agent. The solution can also integrate third-party knowledge-based authentication questions.

The entire process leads to better customer service, Kahn says.

"Instead of being asked a barrage of questions at the start of a call such as, 'What's your address? What's your Social Security number? What's your favorite pet's name?' we allow the call to immediately focus on the reason the customer is reaching out in the first place," Kahn says.

Additionally, deploying the Real-Time Authentication solution can mean reduced call handle time and millions of dollars saved, he adds.

"Enterprises across financial, [telecommunications,] and insurance sectors typically report authentication times of between thirty and forty-five seconds," Kahn says. "The Real-Time Authentication solution enables service providers to skip the entire authentication process, and [up to] forty-five seconds can be saved.”

The Real-Time Authentication technology also has an impressive verification rate. Kahn said that within days of one deployment, the solution was able to authenticate thousands of customers with its passive enrollment technology, and provided a verification rate of greater than 90 percent.